The
Bulgarians are the inheritors of a rich and varied cultural tradition,
deriving as they do from a fusion of ancient Balkan peoples, notably the
Thracians, with later immigrants including Roman colonists, Slav farmers and
proto-Bulgar nomads, not to mention Greeks and Ottoman Turks. Professor Lang
concentrates on the formative period in Bulgarian history between the
seventh and fourteenth centuries AD. This began when the Turkic Bulgar horde
under Khan Asparukh settled south of the river Danube. Thereafter, in
association with the more numerous Slavs, the Bulgars rapidly became one of
the most powerful nations in Europe, able to set up and topple Byzantine
emperors.

In the
ninth century, the Bulgarians adopted Orthodox Christianity, as numerous
extant ancient Slavonic inscriptions and manuscripts from Bulgaria and
Macedonia, then united with the Bulgar realm, testify; Professor Lang traces
the politically stormy but culturally fruitful relations of Bulgaria with
Byzantium. Though the Greek emperors were never reconciled to Bulgaria’s
independent existence, her Christian literature, art and architecture none
the less form an integral element in the civilization of the ‘Byzantine
Commonwealth’.

After
discussing the social and philosophical implications of the Bulgarian
Bogomil heresy, which had a decisive influence on the Albigensians and
Cathars of Western Europe, Professor Lang devotes his last two chapters to
the Bulgarians’ cultural and artistic achievements, the quality and variety
of which are brought out by a series of striking photographs, many never
before reproduced in any Western publication. He ends his survey with the
Ottoman Turkish conquest of Bulgaria in 1393-96.

With 62
photographs, 36 line drawings and 5 maps.

£8.50
net in UK only

THE
BULGARIANS

FROM
PAGAN TIMES TO THE OTTOMAN CONQUEST

David
Marshall Lang

62
PHOTOGRAPHS 36 LINE DRAWINGS 2 TABLES 5 MAPS

THAMES
AND HUDSON

THIS IS
VOLUME EIGHTY-FOUR IN THE SERIES

Ancient
Peoples and Places

GENERAL
EDITOR: PROFESSOR GLYN DANIEL

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